Refuge Water Supply Program
The Refuge Water Supply Program is administered by the United States Department of the Interior jointly by the Bureau of Reclamation and Fish and Wildlife Service and tasked with acquiring a portion and delivering a total of 555,515 acre feet of water annually to 19 specific protected wetland areas in the Central Valley of California as mandated with the passing of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act signed on October 30, 1992, by President George H. W. Bush.
Background
The Central Valley Project (CVP)
The Central Valley once contained over 4 million acres of naturally occurring wetlands that provided habitat: land, food, and shelter for resident and migratory birds and wildlife. The Central Valley, historically and today, constitutes a significant portion of the Pacific Flyway used by millions of migrating birds each year.The Central Valley's winter flood-prone geography and summer dry climate were natural constraints to permanent human settlement. The Central Valley Project ; an interconnected engineered system of reservoirs, aqueducts, and flood control measures, constructed by the US Bureau of Reclamation; managed flooding and provided reliable water supplies year-round with highly managed and calculated water storage, release and conveyance infrastructure. Along with the construction of similar facilities by others, the CVP's flood control and water delivery systems created a stable environment suitable for permanent human development in the Central Valley.
Controlling and manipulating the water supply for human benefit dramatically and quickly transformed the landscape. All but 400,000 acres of natural wetlands were transformed for development, a reduction in wetland area of 90%. The loss of wetlands concentrated the migrating and resident wildlife on less land and required their sharing of and dependence on less water. This unhealthy crowding caused bird populations to decline as they suffered from disease and the lack of necessary food, shelter, and water. Compounding the problem, human activity, in some cases, polluted the waters that flowed into the remaining wetlands. The Kesterson Reservoir disaster provided a clear indication that wildlife was suffering in the modified Central Valley and helped inspire actions to mitigate the CVP's effects on bird and fish populations.
Central Valley Project Improvement Act
The Central Valley Project Improvement Act was signed into law on October 30, 1992, as mitigation and remedy for some of the CVP's adverse environmental effects, specifically, to increase the population and improve the health of the Central Valley's anadromous fish and increase the acreage and health of wetlands used by migratory birds and other resident wildlife. The CVPIA is managed by the United States Department of Interior through collaboration between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife Service.Refuge Water Supply Program
CVPIA Section 3406 mandates that 555,515 AF of water of suitable quality be delivered to maintain and improve wetland habitat areas in 19 wetland areas specifically identified in the Report on Refuge Water Supply Investigations and the San Joaquin Basin Action Plan/Kesterson Mitigation Action Plan, collectively referred to as 'the Refuges'. These Refuges comprise nearly 200,000 acres of wetlands and as such represent almost 50% of the wetlands remaining in California's Central Valley. Reclamation created the Refuge Water Supply Program to manage and administer the activities necessary to ensure the acquisition and delivery of this water as required under this section. Like the CVPIA, the RWSP is administered jointly by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife ServiceThe Refuges
National Wildlife Refuges
The following Refuges, benefiting from CVPIA legislation, are administered by the Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service as National Wildlife Refuges. In some instances, the specific Refuge named in the CVPIA is currently a constituent part of an FWS administrative complex of refuges that includes several such refuges and/or other non-benefiting lands.The following CVPIA benefiting refuges are components of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex: Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Delevan National Wildlife Refuge, Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, Sutter National Wildlife Refuge.
The following CVPIA benefiting Refuges are components of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex: San Luis Unit, West Bear Creek Unit, East Bear Creek Unit, Kesterson Unit, Freitas Unit and Merced National Wildlife Refuge. The refuges currently identified as 'Units' were separate refuges at the time the legislation was written and passed.
The following CVPIA benefiting Refuges are components of the Kern National Wildlife Refuge Complex: Kern National Wildlife Refuge and Pixley National Wildlife Refuge
California State Wildlife Areas
The following Refuges, benefiting from CVPIA legislation, are administered by the State of California, Department of Fish and Wildlife as Wildlife Areas. In some instances, the specific Refuge named in the CVPIA is currently a part of a DFW administrative unit that includes several such refuges and/or other non-benefiting lands.Gray Lodge Wildlife Area; Los Banos Wildlife Area ; the following currently designated 'units' of the North Grasslands Wildlife Area, China Island Unit and Salt Slough Unit; and the Volta Wildlife Area. Note: 'portion', is used to indicate that the current existing wildlife area boundary is larger than it was in the defining report. CVP water obligated for the RWSP is only permitted to be used on that portion of the wildlife area specifically described in the defining report and legislation.
The Grasslands Resource Conservation District
The Grassland Resource Conservation District comprises 75,000 acres of land including: the Grassland Water District which provides water to 165 hunting clubs; the Kesterson and Freitas Units of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge ; Volta Wildlife Management Area ; Los Banos WMA; and privately owned wetlands. As such, the GRCD includes 60,000 acres of privately owned hunting clubs, 12,000 acres of land owned by the Federal and state governments, and 3,000 acres of cropland. The federal and state Refuges identified in the CVPIA legislation that are within the GRCD do not share GRCD's water allocation.The Water
The water associated with the program is either categorized as Level 2 or Incremental Level 4 and there are different supply quantities and characteristics of each. The goal of the program is to provide the 'Full Level 4' water quantity which is the cumulative sum of the full quantity of each category for each Refuge. Program-wide, typically between 75% and 85% of Full Level 4 is delivered annually.The water the RWSP provides accounts for varying portions of an individual Refuge's total water supply. Because some Refuges do not have adequate conveyance capacity to them delivered water supplies vary annually with hydrological and climatic conditions. Construction projects enabling these Refuges to receive water supplies have been identified and in some cases are progressing but funding limitations will likely cause this condition to persist.
Full Level 4
The amount of water identified as being required for the optimal management of a designated wetland is defined as that refuge's 'Full Level 4' quantity. The 555,515AF of water the RWSP is tasked with providing is the sum of all of the specified refuges' Full Level 4 quantities. Full Level 4 is a contractually obligated amount of water that consists of 2 blocks, Level 2 and Incremental Level 4. Each refuge has a 'Full Level 4' quantity which is the sum of its total Level 2, and total Incremental Level 4 quantity of water. These amounts are provided in the table "RWSP Contract Water Quantities".Level 2 Water
Each of the 19 benefiting Refuges has its own Level 2 water quantity which is based on the average water supplies necessary to maintain the wetland areas in existence prior to the passing of the CVPIA or equate to its prior dependably delivered quantity and collectively totals 422,251 AF. For this reason, the delivery of a Refuge's Level 2 allocation is considered to be essential for a Refuge's successful operation.For those refuges that have the infrastructure to receive it, Level 2 water comes from the CVP, meaning a fixed portion of the federal water supply stored and delivered by the CVP Project is automatically dedicated annually for Refuge use and thus provides a perennially reliable water source. The RWSP manages and funds several long-term contracts with a variety of water agencies to convey this water from its CVP source to a Refuges' boundaries.
It is important to note that the individual Refuges determine the amount of this water to be delivered, per month, at their discretion. This is a unique condition because most CVP water contracts impose limitations on both the total monthly delivery amount and the months in which deliveries may occur.
Incremental Level 4 Water
The incremental difference between the Refuges' Full Level 4 allocation and its Level 2 allocation defines Incremental Level 4 and represents the quantity of water necessary for Refuges to ideally manage all lands identified in the refuge reports for the benefit of waterfowl. In most cases, IL4 water is needed to fully support an expanded wetland footprint. Like Level 2 water, each refuge has its own Incremental Level 4 quantity but unlike Level 2 supplies, this water is not dedicated from CVP supply and must be acquired from other sources, such as willing sellers or from those relinquishing their federal or state supplies. The RWSP manages and funds contracts of varied duration to acquire and convey this water from its source to the refuges' boundaries. The suppliers, availability, and cost of water available as Incremental Level 4 are less predictable than Level 2 supplies because of unpredictable region-wide water needs and usage; the potential lack of sufficient conveyance infrastructure; inconsistent annual natural conditions, specifically rainfall; and occasional water quality concerns.Additionally, Individual refuges retain the right to refuse to accept water that the RWSP has the ability to acquire if it is not of suitable quality or does not benefit the refuge at the time it is available. Thus, water supplied delivered in a year may be less than those that were potentially available.